Sweet and low-down

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Movie
Original title Sweet and low-down
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 76 minutes
Rod
Director Archie Mayo
script Richard English
production William LeBaron
for Twentieth Century Fox
music Cyril J. Mockridge
camera Lucien Ballard
cut Dorothy Spencer
occupation

Sweet and Low-Down is an American romantic musical film directed by Archie Mayo from 1944. The main roles in the film, which fictitiously deals with a period of Benny Goodman's life, play Benny Goodman himself and Linda Darnell as well as Jack Oakie and Lynn Bari .

Richard English's screenplay is based on an original story he wrote with Edward Haldeman. The film was nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Song" category.

action

Benny Goodman and his band were holding their annual free concert at Chicago's Dearborn Settlement, where Benny grew up, and are about to leave for their next engagement when Goodman's clarinet is stolen by a boy named Tony Birch. The band leader and his manager and friend Popsie pursue the boy and come to a rented apartment, where Johnny, the boy's brother, plays the trumpet, which was the real reason for the adolescent who wanted to lure Goodman there with his action. His plan actually works, because Goodman offers the young man a job in his band. The three men go to the train station, where Johnny is introduced to the band members who are already waiting there. On the train, Johnny discovers Pat Sterling and thinks she is an autograph hunter until Popsie explains to him that she is the singer of the band. Johnny apologizes to Pat, who immediately starts flirting with him. Popsie asks Pat to leave the naive young man alone.

As the band prepares for a military ball the next day, they are surprised when their host turns out to be General Carmichael, a teenager from the local military academy. For Benny, however, there is no question that he will keep his commitment. Carmichael brings his aunt Trudy Wilson with him to the concert, who calls him "Mogie". He persuaded her to dress in a way that would make the other guys think she was his date. Even Benny, who knows Trudy's family, is surprised when he sees them.

Although Johnny is nervous at his first concert, he shows a good performance, especially in the solos that Benny generously allows him. Benny confides in Trudy that Pat can easily fool him because he is very trusting. Benny's attempt to influence Johnny with Trudy fails, however, because he believes she is a teenager. When the band later gives a concert in New York, to which Benny invites Trudy, the jealous Pat thinks she has to keep Johnny away from her. However, Johnny is impressed with Trudy's friendly manner and takes her to a jam session. There comes a dispute with Benny, in which Johnny overreacts. Trudy tries to calm him down, but Johnny arrogantly replies that he wants to and will make it to become famous.

In fact, Johnny's fame grows over the next three months, but it tends to damage his ego. When he met the slippery agent Lester Barnes, he was able to persuade him, with the prospect of high salaries, to leave Benny and found his own band with Pat as the singer. Although his family and Popsie criticize him for being ungrateful to Benny, he also woos some of Benny's musicians away. At first it looks as if his plan will work, but in the long run it does not exert the attraction that Benny has on people and the initial flow of visitors quickly decreases. Then Pat and the poached musicians return to Benny and Johnny goes back to Chicago to work in the factory again. He knows he's made mistakes, but is too ashamed to ask Benny for another chance. Popsie then ensures that there is a reconciliation between Benny and Johnny.

production

Production notes

The working titles of the film were The King of Swing and Moment for Music . According to information from the Legal Department of 20th Century Fox Records and the Produced Scripts Collections held at UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library, Benny Goodman contributed to Richard English's original unreleased film story, The King of Swing, as did Edward Haldeman, who contributed the musical part of Goodman's biography. A message in the film industry's journal The Hollywood Reporter of June 21, 1943 indicated that the studio had acquired Goodman's life story for production. Although Goodman, who was popular as the King of Swing, and some of his band members played themselves in the film, it is not a biography of the band leader. As documents in the legal acts show, Goodman did not want that either. In 1956, Steve Allen portrayed the famous clarinetist in The Benny Goodman Story , a film directed by Valentine Davies for Universal International Pictures . Filming began on January 24th and ended in mid-March 1944.

Staff and cast

According to a June 1943 report in the Hollywood Reporter , Irving Cummings was traded as a director. In early January 1944, the magazine announced that Gale Robbins had been selected for the role of Pat Sterling and that Jane Ball was being considered for the role of Trudy Wilson. Although June Haver also appeared in the cast list, she was not seen in the finished film. Lynn Bari seemed to be subscribed to the role of Big Band singer at Century Fox, she played a similar role in the revue film Adopted Glück and in Archie Mayo's musical film Orchestra Wives . Her voice was ironically dubbed by Pat Friday in the first two films mentioned, and by Lorraine Elliot in this film. James Cardwell's trombone playing was performed by Bill Harris. Dickie Moore had starred in several Fox films such as Heaven Can Wait in the 1940s . The vocal group The Pied Pipers was featured in the film, as was the great swing jazz pianist Jess Stacy .

Studio recordings indicate that a sequence was recorded with Goodmann and his band in which they play the song Stompin 'at the Savoy . However, the scene is not included in the final version of the film. Apparently it was only produced for the trailer shown.

For the Filmbauten contributed Maurice Ransford and Lyle R. Wheeler and Thomas Little and Walter M. Scott responsibility. WD Flick and Harry M. Leonard were responsible for the sound, Fred Sersen for the special photographic effects.

background

Benny Goodman (1942)

Twentieth Century Fox had already produced box office hits with the revue film Adoptierter Glück (1941) with Sonja Henie and the musical film Orchestra Wives (1942) and wanted to continue to exploit the popularity of the big bands . However, 1944 was not to be equated with the years 1941/1942. Miller and his band were members of the Army Air Force and made entertainment programs for the military that included propaganda. Glenn Miller disappeared in December 1944 while flying over the English Channel . The studio then turned to one of its greatest rivals, Benny Goodman and his orchestra, with the film Sweet and Low-Down .

The film depicts a fictional version of the life of Benny Goodman, his band, and their manager while he was acting for entertainment in military camps. Veteran comedian Jack Oakie played a fictionalized version of Goodman's manager William "Popsie" Randolph, who made the film laugh. The Oscar-nominated song I'm Making Believe was sung in a cover version by Ella Fitzgerald and was a number one hit in the United States in late 1944 . Since cameraman Lucien Ballard had to take a day off, Linda Darnell's then husband, cameraman J. Peverell Marley , took over and recorded his wife's kissing scene with James Cardwell.

It wasn't their first collaboration for Benny Goodman and Jack Oakie. Oakie had a radio show in the mid-1930s called The Oakie College , alternatively known as The Camel Caravan , in which Goodman and his band played as a so-called house band. The then twelve year old Judy Garland made her debut as a singer there. Sweet and Low-Down was used to bring the big band fans who wanted to hear Godman into the cinema.

Music in the film

  • I'm Making Believe by James V. Monaco and Mack Gordon ,
    played by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, sung by Lynn Bari resp. Lorraine Elliott, can also be heard more often as background music in the film
  • Ten Days with Baby , as before,
    danced by Jack Oakie
  • Chug Chug Choo-Choo Chug , as before
  • Hey boy Let's have a ball like before
  • I've Found a New Baby by Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams , arranged by Fletcher Henderson ,
    played by Benny Goodman at His Orchestra at Settlement House
  • Jersey Bounce by Bobby Plater , Edward Johnson, Tiny Bradshaw and Buddy Feyne,
    played as before, but at the prom
  • No Love, No Nothin ' by Harry Warren and Leo Robin , played as before
  • Down Argentine Way by Warren and Gordon
    played by a Latin American band in a New York nightclub
  • I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much) , as before
  • Let's Dance by Fanny Baldridge, Josef Bonime and Gregory Stone ,
    played by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
  • The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise by Ernest Seitz and Gene Lockhart,
    played: as before
  • Rachel's Dream by Benny Goodman from the 1939 musical Swingin 'the Dream ,
    performed by Benny Goodman, Morey Field, Jess Stacy and Sid Weiss
  • Clarinet quintet in A major KV 581 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , arranged by Benny Goodman,
    performed by Benny Goodman and quartet
  • Stompin 'at the Savoy by Benny Goodman, Chick Webb , Edgar Sampson and Andy Razaf ,
    recorded for the film by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (but not included in the final version, but in the trailer shown)

publication

The film premiered on September 21, 1944 in Los Angeles. The film was released in Sweden and Finland in 1945, in Mexico and Portugal in 1946 and in the Netherlands in 1957. The film was also shown in theaters in Brazil. In the USA it was shown at the Cinecon Film Festival on August 30, 2018. The film was not shown in the Federal Republic of Germany.

reception

criticism

Bosley Crowther wrote in the New York Times that one could not expect to find an immortal drama about a trombonist in a film about Benny Goodman, not even in a fictional fable. But one could have expected something fresher on this subject than this powerless and tiring romance. This film, made by Century Fox, also features rather wooden actors like James Cardwell as a trombonist in the Cinderella style. Lynn Bari and Linda Darnell are just as decorative as the other girls and Benny Goodman's music is quite smooth. Outside of his musical performances, however, Goodman clearly shows that the film plot is more of a boring fiction that does not really deserve the talent of his band.

On the Los Angeles Examiner , columnist Dorothy Manners noted that Lynn Bari got off best in the film because she simply had more chances to shine. Linda Darnell, on the other hand, just doesn't have enough to do, even if she looks beautiful doing it.

The Movie & Video Guide summed up that the film offers a “thin story” but praised the music: “However, the King of Swing and his boys really cook, from the opening credits on, the jam session sequence is especially hot ". (The King of Swing and his boys really cook, the order of the jam session is particularly hot from the start.)

Award

Academy Awards 1945

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Sweet and Low-Down (1944) see notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. ↑ a b Sweet and Low-Down (1944) see original print info at TCM (English)
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Sweet and Low-Down (1944) see articles at TCM (English)
  4. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1279 (English).